


Social Engineering

by doublejoint



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hackers, Con Artists, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doublejoint/pseuds/doublejoint
Summary: “Why can’t I play the innocent one next time?” says Imayoshi.
Relationships: Imayoshi Shouichi/Susa Yoshinori
Kudos: 6





	Social Engineering

**Author's Note:**

> happy 4/7 imasusa
> 
> this idea occurred to me while i was writing the other con artists au and now seemed an appropriate time to actually see it through lol

“Why can’t I play the innocent one next time?” says Imayoshi.

Susa’s sigh is long, drawn out like the scrape of a heavy piece of furniture over an unfinished wood floor, meant to scratch. Imayoshi looks untroubled, despite already knowing exactly why.

“You look too suspicious.”

“That’s the point, Susa. If I’m suspicious, and I know I look suspicious, then why would I be asking for help if I didn’t really need it?”

“You’re the one who’s always talking about my honest face.”

“You do have an honest face for a liar,” says Imayoshi.

“Thanks,” says Susa (he doesn’t really care if it wasn’t a compliment; all the better if it’s not, actually). 

“Anyway,” says Imayoshi. “If we’re asking for passwords over the phone, the innocence of my face doesn’t matter.”

“You sound too suspicious,” says Susa.

“But you’re always complaining about calling people—”

“Fine,” says Susa. “You can waste our time.”

* * *

The problem is, halfway through the day, that Imayoshi’s too good at it. It’s not a problem in the sense that their pockets won’t be lined well enough (or not at all). But Imayoshi talks fast and smooth, turning on the charm and gaining the trust of wary young professionals, lonely old widowers who just want someone to talk to, housewives struggling to get dinner done in time, and gets their banking information, their credit cards, their birthdates and passwords and security question answers, rerouting two-factor authentication to Susa’s burner phone. It’s way better than Susa’s “bank password inspector” or “Nigerian prince” acts ever have been, or even the scam he’d pulled for months claiming that the credit card company had forgotten to charge a payment but that it was due very soon and they simply must pay immediately if they wanted to avoid late fees. 

It’s even better than the few times Imayoshi has pretended to rob Susa on a crowded street (those times actually didn’t go very well in terms of making money, but they were fun at least, and Susa had garnered quite a bit of sympathy from the onlookers and that had been validating.)

Imayoshi’s dazzling, shark-like smile at the end of the day does not lift Susa’s mood, nor does the promise that drinks are on him (though drinks have been on Susa’s tab nine of the last ten times, and it’s all coming from the same shared funding pool anyway). 

This is just one day, and more money is a good thing, but that thought’s not very comforting when Susa feels obsolete and unimportant, blindsided and flat-footed. He’d never know Imayoshi had it in him; all his teasing had come from a place of believing that Imayoshi couldn’t really do it, that this was his domain, that having Imayoshi take the lead mark-facing role would be about as successful as him writing a program to grab passwords and security question answers from an encrypted database in five hours, without any database administrators noticing he’d looked at anything.

Of course Imayoshi’s charming, but Susa had seen through him right away, Is he more street-smart than the average person? Yes, but when he’d found Imayoshi he hadn’t even been thinking he was going to be duped. It was all in the feeling he’d gotten, the smile Imayoshi had given him. (Maybe it takes one to know one; maybe Imayoshi had been trying to look more crooked than he really is, or tends to come across, to lure Susa in.) 

Imayoshi orders for him, and when the cherry margarita slides down the bar Susa knows it’s his. He doesn’t always like his drinks sweet, but today’s a good day for it, a shock on his tongue to pull him halfway out of his wallowing in insecurity, hauling himself out of the deep end of the pool with his arms, his ankles and feet still dangling in the water. 

“Thanks,” he says.

Imayoshi smiles. “Gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

He’s too perceptive. Susa can read him the same way though, so he’ll take the trade (not that he has much of a choice).

“I don’t like that you’re better at this than me.”

“Ooh, Susa, you can’t just pay me a compliment, can you?”

Susa doesn’t appreciate the levity, though maybe he could appreciate the thought behind it.

“It was one day, you know.”

“Yeah. But you’re the better programmer. What am I here for if you can do all of it? Moral support? Luck?”

“Those are important,” says Imayoshi. 

Susa sighs, draining the rest of his drink. If Imayoshi’s buying, he might as well have another.

“I’m sorry,” says Imayoshi. “I know what you mean. But do you really need me to tell you how important you are?”

“I really do,” says Susa. 

“Oh,” says Imayoshi. “Well.”

He’s making something up. Susa’s mean, angry thoughts are so much louder when he’s tired and hurt. It’s perhaps unfair to Imayoshi, but since when have they ever been perfectly fair to each other? Susa rubs his thumb over the rim of his second glass, the granulated sugar on the rim both sticking to and scratching his skin. Imayoshi’s not making something up; Susa had just put him on the spot--but shouldn’t it be easy, if it’s important, essential, something Susa does every damn day?

“Nevermind,” says Susa. 

“No,” says Imayoshi. “I do mind.”

“I shouldn’t be so territorial—”

“No,” says Imayoshi. “If you suddenly started programming fast, elegant code I’d be mad.”

Susa inclines his head.

“You’re better at crunching the numbers than I am,” says Imayoshi. “And you do all the hardware stuff, and you have a knack for finding targets. That list today was people you chose.”

“It’s basic knowledge,” says Susa. “You could do it too.”

“I don’t though,” says Imayoshi. 

Susa shrugs.

“I reckon I’d keep you around even if I had to do it all myself though,” says Imayoshi. 

“You would never,” says Susa.

“I used to,” says Imayoshi. “So did you, and we both sucked at it.”

Susa will give him that much. 

“You’re not just fishing for compliments, huh.”

“Fishing’s your thing,” says Susa. “But thank you.”


End file.
